Hard work pays off

Happy Labor Day everyone! Moments ago I just got back from my first ride on my XJ. I took it out for a solid 20 mile loops around town (Gorham, ME) and loved every moment of it!

The months (7 since I bought the bike in January, but even more so when I was searching around for what bike I wanted to buy) of research, patience and hard work have surely paid off. The bike showed its gratitude for all the TLC I've shown it by running as smooth and dependably as I could ask for, all gears were present and I was able to shift between them with ease (thanks to my brand new clutch cable for sure). I couldn't ask for a better day too, not too many people on the road, warm but not hot, sunny but with occasional cloud cover. I thoroughly enjoyed wearing the my new gear as well, once I was moving the boots, gloves, jacket and helmet breathed so well I could barely tell they were there.

I'll admit that when I first pulled out of my driveway I was a bit nervous for various reasons (I did a complete brake rebuild so I had no way of actually knowing they would work as intended until I was on the road, add that to the fact that the only MC riding I've ever done was at my MRC course which was two solid months ago now). However, once I was on the open road and was sailing smoothly at 45 MPH in fifth gear I could just feel that is was all good (there was no one else on the road at the time so I did a good brake check on an open stretch).

I initially intended to just do a quick loop but I abandoned that notion quickly and just kept going out of town. Eventually I pulled off into an empty parking lot before the center of the next town and turned around, headed back into town taking a long way around the town center to a buddy of mine's house to show off the spoils of my work. Oddly enough, as I turned back onto Main St 50 yards shy of his driveway he was pulling out in his car, so I wound up tailing him a mile or so down the road until he pulled in to a gas station. I had intended on filling up my tank anyhow so I pulled up next to the pump next to him and the look on his face was priceless as he looked through the visor on my helmet squinting with that "Is that who I think it is?" look on his face, hah! He had a hand in the recommissioning of the bike here and there, lent me an extra hand while bleeding the brakes, building my PVC carb stand, removing the carb rack, etc.

After gassing up and I headed home for a much deserved celebratory Molson Canadian, and snapped a few pics on the phone. Eventually I'll do another vacuum sync and then work with the Colortune plug, but for now I'm just going to enjoy the fact that my XJ is no longer crawling its way out of project status. Maybe now I can justify spending some quality time with the aesthetics: washing, polishing, etc.

I have so many of you on this forum to thank, as I probably couldn't have made it to this point without this website as a reference source (I only posted a couple of questions but I have a read and bookmarked numerous threads on here). In fact, while I love the styling of the XJs (both Maxim and Secas) more than any other bike I've seen, I lurked this website for months before I decided to pull the trigger on the bike I bought; knowing this website existed and would be a consistant source of help and information was definitely a factor in me making my choice to go XJ. Also thanks to chacal for the xj4ever.com tech articles, and of course, being one heck of a parts source!

Here's some of the pics, starting with one I took at the gas station:









Cheers!

 

I love a good success story.

Kinda counters the "this is the worst motorcycle ever" and "I've had it, I'm parting it out" posts. And your biggest investments were probably effort, diligence, and patience.

Congrats! It's still going to hand you a few surprises (that will be anything you overlooked) but it sounds like the biggest battles have been won!

Good job. Riding a like-new 30-year old bike is way cool.

And another XJ is back on the road. Ride safe.

 

Great looking bike! I'm sure she'll get lots of attention. I'm looking forward to working on my next project as well. Definitely something to say about riding 30 year old bikes, it's quite the feeling of pride when you realize you know nearly every little detail about them.

 

Congrats! I just got my XJ on the road this weekend too. The ride enlightened me about how much work is left. Don't add the costs of all the little parts up - it adds up quickly.

 

i second bigfitz and the personal gratification from doing this kind of project pays off for years to come and you will appreciate it so much more than any new bike money could buy.

 

Most excellent!

 

Good to see someone doing things right. There are a few that are trying to get the same results by cutting corners, not spending the time effort and money to get what you have there. Nice job and great looking bike.

MN

 

Good job. Bike is NICE!

 

Makes it all worthwhile! Congrats on getting there, and I'm sure your friend is telling everyone that he helped now.

Very nice looking XJ btw-you can tell it's been getting some love.

 

Lookin' good! NOW GET THAT TANK BUFFED! :lol:

 

Looks great Furman. You have a lot to be proud of!!

 

I am very happy for you. Bike looks fantastic. Having lived in Conway, NH and Bryant Pond, ME, I know you've got some great roads in your neck of the woods. Enjoy!

 

Come on now, let her rev!! open up the rpm ceiling and fly into 6-8k and you'll really start to have some fun!

But congrats on the journey traveled to a successful result!

Ride safe!

 

Someday you'll have to take my ZX for a spin Chris. The real fun starts around 3.5k and by the time you hit 6-8k your eyeballs have flattened.

 

Oh don't worry, a couple times I opened it up and let it pull into the 6-7k range, got it up to 75 in a 55 straight stretch without realizing it. That powerband up there everyone talks about is no joke!

Thanks for the kind words everyone, now if only it would quit raining!

And on the gas tank, I sanded and sprayed bombed it because the original paint had chips and some other nasty spots. I intend to buy a can of the reproduced original black w/ blue specks paint from Len this winter and have it done right.

There are a few other things I'll touch on this winter: wheel bearings and front fork rebuild just know they're new like the rest of the bike, and probably new tires. The tires on there now have good tread and are only a couple years old but the sidewalks are showing some cracks, and if just about everything else is new, might as well get new rubber while I'm at it!

While I'm at it, does anyone have pics of bar end mirrors (the Bikemaster Euro Bend or Napolean style) on stock Maxim handlebars? I'm thinking of going that route as the stocks mirrors are awful and the right side one is useless. They look great on the Seca bars, but they're so much straighter than Maxim bars.

 

I think I'd pee my pants at 8k.

 

I think I'd pee my pants at 8k. [/quote]

You say that now, but it is really something to have these engines up in the 7-8k range, a most amazing feeling and sound :wink:

 

I still have my learner M class lic. I took the illegal highway the other day due to a sink hole that swallowed a car in Ottawa Ont and was doing about 75 mph to keep up with traffic. Not sure what rpm was at but 120kph is plenty fast for my inexperienced butt.

 

Congratulations,bike looks great.
I just bought another 900,careful it's addictive.

 

Smart!! How many people have died from failing to negotiate a turn or avoid an obstacle, as a result of insufficient speed?? You can take it a step further and spend time in "Proficient Motorcycling" and many other good books and videos which relate to riding skills.